Keep Calm and Carry On
by ColorOfAngels
Summary: Sequel to V is for Victory... Reunited in the present day Darcy and Steve have to deal with the fallout from her stay in the 1940s. Can a war time romance and it's unintended consequences survive the 21st century?
1. Chapter 1

A/N Well hello everyone! Here we are with the long awaited and (hopefully) eagerly anticipated sequel to V is for Victory! I know it's been awhile but hopefully some of you are still around :) I know it's been a long time and I left you all on that awful cliffhanger so I'll stop talking and let you get to it...

* * *

At first, there was nothing but darkness.

She was adrift in a sea of blessed unconsciousness, floating safe and warm where nothing could touch her.

Then, there was the unmistakable feeling of lips pressed softly against hers. Urging her gently to rejoin the land of the living.

With a great deal of effort, Darcy forced her eyelids open and found one of the most beautiful men she'd ever seen hovering above her.

"I thought it was supposed to be Prince Charming who wakes the girl with a kiss," Darcy joked weakly. Okay, it wasn't her best work, but she'd been unconscious thirty seconds ago, so she would give herself a pass this time.

"Prince Charming couldn't make it, but Captain America was happy to step in," Steve teased, brushing a lock of hair off her face, a bright smile spreading across his face as he leaned in to kiss her once more.

Darcy was confused, her head was spinning and she _must_ have misheard him, because did he say _Captain America_?

"Who?"

Steve froze, his lips hovering eight inches above hers and Darcy didn't know if she should be disappointed or not.

As much as she appreciated the whole Sleeping Beauty routine, she usually liked to know someone's name before she made out with them. Well, there had been that one time she went to the Sigma Nu's Halloween party and her roommate had had to peel her away from a guy she'd known only as Ferris Bueller at the end of the night. But she wasn't nineteen anymore, and she wasn't drunk on jello shots and jagerbombs. Although the way she currently felt wasn't too far off from the hangover she'd had the morning after that ill advised frat party.

Steve lurched to his feet, taking a step back from Darcy, horror clear on his face. But she didn't have the energy or wherewithal to notice let alone worry about that right now. Instead, she let her eyes close, and mentally took stock of how she felt.

"I really hope someone got the license plate on that bus that hit me," she groaned, regretting having ever woken up. She felt awful and she had no idea why.

The last thing she remembered was… aliens in New York? Okay, _weird_ , but not the first alien invasion that she'd lived through. But there was something after that, they had run through the streets to Stark Tower. They made it to the penthouse, but then Loki grabbed Jane and-

"Jane!" Darcy exclaimed, her eyes popping open as she struggled to sit up. "Is Jane okay? Where is she?!"

"I'm right here," Jane said, pushing her way to Darcy's side, helping her to sit upright. "I'm fine. Are _you_ okay?"

"I think so," Darcy answered, grabbing at Jane's arms both to assure herself that her friend was okay and to keep herself steady, since the whole room was spinning a little bit. "My head hurts and I feel a little seasick." She swallowed hard as her stomach rolled. "Make that a lot seasick."

"That's alright," Jane assured her. "Just take a minute."

Darcy closed her eyes, a took a moment to breathe through her nausea, focusing on not throwing up in Tony Stark's penthouse. When the feeling passed, she reopened her eyes and squinted at her friend. Jane looked different than she remembered. "Did you change clothes?" She glanced down at her lap. "Did _I_ change clothes?"

"Yeah, about that," Jane began.

"Oh my god, what am I wearing?" Darcy grabbed her chest with both hands. "What kind of _bra_ am I wearing?! Someone call Frederick's of Hollywood! I have a bullet boob emergency!"

"Why don't you worry about your underwear later," Jane said, rolling her eyes at the younger woman's priorities.

A shorter, kind of scruffy-looking man, stepped forward from the assembled crowd. "Hi Darcy, I'm Bruce Banner, I'd like to check your vitals if that's okay with you."

"Uh, sure, I guess," Darcy shrugged, and then nodded. She didn't seem the harm in that, although she still wanted to know why it was necessary. "Wait. Banner. Why do I know that name?"

Jane moved to sit down on the couch on Darcy's right, so that Bruce could come over and sit on her left while he performed his exam. "Because he used to work at Culver," she said, waiting for the moment when it clicked.

Darcy's eyes slowly widened as realization hit. "No eff-ing way! You're _that_ Dr. Banner?!"

Bruce seemed to physically shrink in on himself, expecting that now the young woman wouldn't want to be anywhere near him. But Darcy wasn't finished yet.

"Dude, you are a _legend_ on campus!" she exclaimed. "The first two questions when you meet someone new are 'What's your major' and 'Where were you when The Hulk attacked?'"

Bruce cringed. "Everyone knows the... _other guy_ , is me?"

"Well, not _everyone_ ," Jane assured him.

"It's just... one of Culver's more poorly kept secrets," Erik added, speaking up from where he was standing by he window. Darcy and Jane were nodding in agreement.

"I mean, it's mainly just rumors and hearsay with a dash of good ol' fashioned conspiracy theory, but all the clues are out there just waiting for someone to put them together," Darcy said. "We _are_ college kids, at least a couple of us are smart."

"And you're not scared of me?"

Darcy scoffed at that idea. "Nah, you look like you've got a handle on it. If anything, I owe you a drink," she told him. "Your last little romp through campus got me out of a midterm I was sooo not ready to take. With classes canceled I got a whole extra week to study. I owe my A minus in Public Choice Theory to you. So thanks for that. Seriously."

"You're welcome," Bruce chuckled awkwardly, "I think. Do you mind if I check you over now?"

"Yeah, sure," Darcy agreed. "But you're not a medical doctor, are you?"

"No, but I know enough to know if you need to go see one," he explained. "Besides the headache and nausea, are you experiencing dizziness, disorientation, any other pain?" Bruce asked, using a penlight to check Darcy's pupillary response.

"Well, that light isn't doing my head any favors," Darcy said, squinting. "And I was a little dizzy, but that's already going away. At least the room isn't spining anymore. Same with the nausea."

"That's good," Bruce nodded, moving on to checking Darcy's temperature, satisfied with the results.

"Does someone want to tell me what's going on?" Darcy asked, taking a moment to look around the room as Bruce strapped a blood pressure cuff around her arm. She'd been momentarily distracted by getting to meet the Hulk's human counterpart, but she wanted some answers.

Her gaze flitted past Natasha and Clint, not knowing either of them. She blinked twice when she noticed Tony Stark of all people, standing by the bar with a drink in his hand. But since it was his house, she supposed that made sense. She didn't want to look at Steve too long since he was still hovering just out of arm's reach, looking at her like she'd kicked his puppy. And then there was Thor, who was currently taking his hair down from some complicated looking braid, but was currently dressed like she and him were going to the same costume party. He was the one that answered her question.

"Lady Darcy, you fell through a portal of my brother's making," Thor told her. "It took us some time to find a way to bring you home."

Darcy frowned. She didn't remember any of that. "Where was I?"

Jane pointed at the man who'd kissed her. "With him."

"And you are?" Darcy asked.

"I'm Steve," he said, swallowing hard past the lump in throat as he thought back to the last time he introduced himself to the woman in front of him. The penthouse of Stark Tower was a far cry from the dirty alley back in Brooklyn, when he'd met her the first time, although the emotions swirling in his chest were similar. "Steve Rogers."

"Steve Rogers," Darcy repeated to herself. She looked over at Jane, and asked the question for the second time that day, "Why do I know _that_ name?"

Jane smirked. "Because he's also Captain America."

"Captain Amer- Wait, you mean Star-Spangled Man With a Plan, Captain America?" Darcy asked, dubiously.

"The one and only," Bruce confirmed, as he removed the cuff from her arm. "Your blood pressure and pulse are a little high, but that's to be expected considering the circumstances. I think you'll be okay, but if you start to feel worse, then you should see an actual medical doctor."

Darcy nodded, absently acknowledging Bruce's advice, but she had bigger concerns at the moment and turned back to Jane. " _Where_ did you say I went, again?"

"More like _when_ , not so much _where_ ," Jane revealed. "The portal sent you back in time."

"To World War Two," Darcy said slowly, glancing suspiciously at Steve from the corner of her eye. "Where I met Captain America."

"And became a star of the Silver Screen," Tony interjected, watching this all go down with undisguised glee written all over his face.

Darcy's gaze snapped in the billionare's direction. "Say _what,_ now?"

"No, seriously, you time-traveled and became a movie star. I'm Clint, by the way, and this is Natasha," he introduced himself and his heretofore silent partner. "We never officially met, but I was in New Mexico."

"Oh yeah, right, I thought I recognized you as one of the jackbooted thugs," she said, with a half-hearted little wave. "And I think I see where the mix-up is. You're all thinking of my great aunt," Darcy corrected, confident that this was all some sort of misunderstanding. " _She_ was the movie star. I was named for her, and everyone says that I look a lot like her, but that's just genetics, not time travel. I'm _not_ her."

"I know it's hard to believe," Erik said, "but you're one and the same."

"Okay, there's a couple reasons that's impossible," Darcy countered, still not believing it. "One, there's no way I was an actress. I know I come off like I enjoy being the center of attention, but I actually have the worst stage fright in like ever. In the third grade, I was a tree in the class play. I didn't even have lines and I still ended up crying and running off stage. And two, she was my Grandpa's older sister. You know, who he _grew up with_. And since I am very much a nineties kid, I couldn't have grown up in the thirties too. How could I be two completely different people at the same time?"

"I am he, as you are he, as you are me, and we are all together," Tony offered.

"Aren't two people enough?" Darcy returned, unable to withhold a smirk, easily recognizing the reference. "I'm not going to be the eggman and the walrus, too."

"Goo goo g' joob," Bruce contributed to the conversation.

Everyone in the room chuckled except for Thor and Steve who looked at each other confused, clearly neither of them understanding what was going on.

"No, but seriously," Darcy said. "Two lives, one person. I know I'm just a poli sci major, but even I know the math doesn't check out."

"It is difficult and complicated to explain in full, but I shall endeavor to try," Thor began.

"Give me the short and simple version then," Darcy requested, not sure her scrambled brain was up to processing 'difficult and complicated' at the moment. She could always get a more in depth explanation when she felt a little less like death warmed over.

"Please yes, give her the Reader's Digest version," Clint concured quickly. There had been a lot of discussions and debates about the nature of time travel and the space time continuum among the science contingent in the tower over the last few weeks, and he was well aware how quickly the conversation could spiral if not kept concise.

"The short and simple version then," Thor agreed, taking a moment to decide how to best boil the information down to its most easily understood form. "The first thing you should know, is that time travel is an extremely difficult and dangerous form of magic," he explained. "As such the practice of such magics are forbidden across the Nine Realms. The Norns themselves stand guard at the Well of Fate at the base of Yggdrasil, as they weave the tapestry of time, in part to prevent such meddling." He paused to make sure Darcy was still following, when she nodded to show she was, Thor continued. "Any attempts to alter the fabric of time will have rippling consequences, from the inconsequential to the disastrous, depending on the methods used. Luckily for all of us and the Nine Realms, that while misguided, Loki is incredibly skilled."

" _Misguided_ would not be the word I'd use," Erik mumbled darkly.

Thor continued as if he hadn't heard him. "Your journey through Loki's portal not only took you backwards through time, but reality itself was manipulated. The loom of fate rewove itself, fundamentally changing the universe in order to give you a history and a place in the past."

Darcy wasn't sure she entirely understood Thor's explanation, and trying to wrap her head around it only made the throbbing in her brain intensify. "So basically, magic."

"Yes, that is the shorter and simpler version," Thor smirked.

"Are you buying this?" Darcy asked Jane, trusting in her friend's scientific skepticism in the face of Thor's magical explanation.

"Darcy," Steve interjected. "I promise you it's all true."

Darcy frowned. "Look, you're real cute and all, in a Boy Scout sorta way, that I'm sure makes people trust you instinctively. So no offence, but I don't know you. I'm asking Jane."

Jane gave Steve, who looked like Darcy had just slapped him across the face, an apologetic glance, before answering her question. "I'll be the first to admit that even _I_ don't fully understand it. And frankly I don't know how this hasn't created some kind of crazy world ending paradox, you somehow being yourself twice. But aliens and magic, we've seen these things before. And the one thing that we can't deny is that the Darcy in 1944 disappeared the same day that Thor went and got you to bring you here. That's an undeniable fact. That _was_ you. It should be impossible, and yet here you are."

"Of all the times you've told me I'm impossible, I never thought you'd mean it like this," Darcy said, able to find the humor of almost any situation. Even if that situation was finding out that she was her own great aunt. "So basically what you're telling me, is that my life is like that episode of Futurama where Fry finds out he's his own grandfather?"

Natasha chuckled, causing several pairs of eyes to dart over to her in surprise at her inappropriate laughter. Especially since it was the first sound she'd made since Darcy's return.

"It's a good episode, and an accurate comparison," she shrugged in explanation, causing the looks to become even more incredulous. "I like Leela," Natasha added unapologetically.

"Yes, but at least you didn't have to do anything creepily incestuous like sleep with your own grandmother to make that happen," Tony supplied helpfully. No one was surprised that Tony enjoyed watching Futurama in his spare time.

"Okay, so I travelled through time," Darcy said finally, circling around to acceptance. "I suppose that explains what I'm wearing, the torture shoes, and the jet lag from hell," she said, reaching down to pull off the vintage heels she'd worn back from the past. She turned to look at Steve, "And that's where… _when_ I met you?"

"Right," Steve confirmed. "We became… close." It was an understatement to be sure, but he didn't even know how to go about explaining what they were to each other. He didn't know what to say to the woman he loved more than anything, but who looked at him as a stranger.

" _Close_ ," she echoed. She had figured that much, given the kissing earlier. "Right, there was a… USO tour?" she asked, not sure if that was correct.

"Yes!" Steve exclaimed hopefully. "You remember?"

"I remember the stories my grandpa told me about family history," she shrugged. "Or I guess stories about _my_ history. That's still so funky to wrap my head around."

"Oh," Steve said, disappointment written all over his face. "Of course."

"So how did you get here?" Darcy asked Steve. "To the twenty-first century I mean. Because shouldn't you be like ninety? Or did you hop through the portal, too?"

"No, he spent the last seventy years as a Capsicle," Tony interjected.

Darcy blinked at Tony, before turning back to Steve for confirmation.

"There was a plane crash in the Arctic," Steve shrugged.

"They just defrosted him a couple of months ago," Tony supplied helpfully.

"Convenient," Darcy said dryly, deciding to take this information at face value, unable to muster up anymore disbelief at the moment. "So how come I don't remember you? How come I don't remember any of this? If I lived this whole other life, shouldn't I know that?"

Everyone glanced at each other, no one having an answer. Nobody had anticipated that Darcy would have no memory of her time spent in the past. Although perhaps they should have.

"You didn't remember your life here, back then either," Steve admitted, his heart aching in his chest. He'd been so excited to have Darcy back, that it hadn't occurred to him that just like the Darcy he'd fallen originally fallen in love with in 1943, had no memories of her life in the future, the Darcy that returned to him in 2012 might not remember her time in the past.

"My mother consulted with the Norns on the best way to bring you back to your proper place with the least disturbance to the original intended timeline, and to you," Thor offered his own hypothesis, thinking of Frigga's cryptic words before he brought Darcy back to Midgard. "Perhaps the human mind is incapable of containing the memories of two lifetimes. I will consult my mother further."

"I guess it doesn't really matter, if I remember it or not," Darcy shrugged and slumped back against the couch. "I mean I'm back now and can just move on with my life like it never happened. No harm no foul, right?"

Steve inhaled sharply and Thor gave the super solider a pointed look, but before either of them could say anything Darcy spoke again.

"Ugh, I think I need a drink," she groaned, glancing at the glass in Tony's hand. "Can a time-traveling girl get one of those?"

"No!" Steve exclaimed. "You can't!"

"And why not?" Darcy snapped. "I think I deserve one, with the day I'm having."

"Because it's bad for the baby," he blurted. In a fit of masochism, he had used his laptop to look up pregnancy, wanting to know how far along Darcy would have been when she disappeared. And in the process, he had learned many of the modern do's and don'ts of pregnancy.

The whole room descended into chaos at the bombshell Steve had just dropped. Everyone was talking over each other at this new development.

"I AM _NOT_ PREGNANT!" Darcy exclaimed over the din. "I've worked very hard on making sure I'm very responsible with my birth control. I've been on the pill since I was sixteen, and I always make the guy bag it. There is no way in hell that I'm gonna end up pregnant by some guy I don't even know!"

Steve blushed deeply at having this conversation in front of everyone. "We weren't as careful as we should have been," he admitted. Honestly, at the time, something like birth control hadn't even occurred to him. Sure, he had seen the requisite film on venereal disease when he'd joined the Army, but it wasn't like that with Darcy; he loved her.

" _ **We?**_ " Darcy asked, rounding on Steve, picking out the key word.

"Yeah," Steve said, looking chagrined. "We were more than just _close_."

Darcy let out a laugh that had zero humor in it.

"The Captain speaks the truth," Thor interjected. "Lady Darcy mentioned she was with child when she thought I was the enemy and feared I may harm her. I could not be certain whether you were aware," he said, with another pointed look in Steve's direction, "as you did not say anything about it before I went to retrieve her."

"No!" Darcy exclaimed, leaping to her feet before Steve had a chance to respond to Thor's comment. "No, nope, nuh uh, no way, absolutely not. This _cannot_ be my reality right now. I didn't even think you were _real_ until twenty minutes ago."

That brought Steve up short. "What do you mean not real?"

"The whole 'Captain America' shtick. I thought it was just an act, that you were an actor hired to boost morale. I wrote a paper on the WWII propaganda machine for my U.S. History class my junior year of high school. I put the paragraph on you between the paragraphs on Rosie the Riveter and racist Looney Tunes cartoons." Darcy was pacing around the room, her arms flailing wildly as she spoke. "I mean, the whole experimental super soldier serum thing's a little far-fetched, isn't it? I thought it was like when they started telling people that carrots improve your eyesight."

"Wait, carrots don't improve eyesight?" Clint interjected.

"No, the British invented onboard radar for their aircraft," Bruce explained. "They didn't want to Germans to know how the RAF could suddenly see them so well in the dark, so they spread the rumor that carrots improve night vision."

Clint frowned. "See if I ever eat another carrot."

"Not the time Barton," Natasha scolded her partner.

"I've accepted that I traveled through a magical portal through time. I've even come to grips with the fact that I'm apparently my own great-aunt. But now you're trying to tell me I'm pregnant with Captain America's spawn?"

Darcy started to hyperventilate, her eyes wide as saucers, clearly beginning to panic. Steve instinctively moved to comfort her, but the absolute death glare she shot at him, stopped him in his tracks, before he could touch her. Jane took his place instead, and with Bruce's help the two led Darcy back to the couch.

"I think I'm gonna be sick," Darcy gasped, feeling light headed and nauseous as her breathing continued to speed.

"Breathe in through your nose, out through your mouth," Bruce told her, pressing on her shoulders gently so she'd put her head between her knees.

"You need to calm down or you're going to pass out again," Jane said, rubbing Darcy's back. "And that can't be good for…uh, _you_ right now," she added, catching herself just a moment too late.

"Oh god, you were gonna say it's not good for the baby!" Darcy lamented sitting back upright. "No. I refuse to be pregnant. Absolutely not! I don't want it. Take it back. Return to sender."

"I think it's a little late to be closing that barn door," Clint pointed out. "I mean that horse is sitting on a beach somewhere drinking a mai tai by now."

Tony looked at the archer through squinted eyes. "Who _are_ you?"

"Clint has a point Darcy," Jane said delicately. "Unfortunately, it doesn't really work that way. If you're pregnant, you're pregnant."

"Yeah, and a really quick trip to Planned Parenthood in the morning could fix that," Darcy snapped without thinking.

"What? No!" Steve shouted, completely horrified. He may not have known what Planned Parenthood was exactly, but he understood the gist of her threat.

Darcy took one look at the absolutely devastated expression on Steve's face and couldn't help but feel guilty at her thoughtless words. But she also couldn't begin to process anything that was going on right then.

"You know what, I can't deal with any of this shit right now," she announced, before practically running for the elevator, disappearing behind the closing doors before anyone realized what was happening.

"Well that could have gone better," Tony said to no one in particular.

"I need to go after her," Steve said heading for the stairs, thinking he could beat her to the lobby if he hurried,

"No. Let her go," Natasha advised, holding him back. "This is a lot to process. Give her some time and space."

"But she's not even wearing shoes," he said dully. A flash of gold caught his eye and he crossed over to where his compass had fallen on the floor by the couch after Darcy had dropped it. He flipped it open and ran a finger over the inscription inside. "She's always running out without shoes on."

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A/N And there we have it! First chapter of the second story of this series :D Let me know what you think!


	2. Chapter 2

A/N That wasn't too bad of a wait for the next chapter was it? I just want to say a HUGE thank you to the response for the first chapter. It had been so long since V is for Victory I really wasn't sure how many people would be interested in this story and you guys allayed my worries in a huge way :D You guys just reinforced my belief that Darcyland is the best fandom out there!

And I need to give a huge shout out to Alexandra926 who is the reason that I was able to get this chapter out to you guys so quickly in the shape that it's in :)

* * *

Darcy didn't have a plan as she fled Stark Tower, like the hounds of hell were snapping at her heels. All she knew was that she had to be somewhere else. She had to get out of that room with all of those eyes watching her like she was a science experiment gone wrong.

She didn't stop when the elevator let her out on the ground floor either. Ignoring the strange looks she was receiving as she ran through the lobby, she burst through the glass doors into the mid-afternoon sun. Only once she was out of the building, did she feel like she could breathe again. She inhaled deeply, letting what passed for fresh air on a New York City summer afternoon fill her lungs.

When she realized that she was standing in the middle of the sidewalk blocking the doors of one of the busiest buildings in midtown, people glaring at her as they wove around her, she started walking, just to get out of the way. She didn't have any particular destination in mind, she didn't know the city well enough to have a destination in the first place. She just moved her feet, focusing on putting one foot in front of the other, which was how she found herself wandering up 44th Street until she stumbled across a Duane Reade on the corner of 44th and 5th.

Hesitating in front of the drugstore, Darcy nibbled on her bottom lip as she considered her options. She didn't really think Thor or Captain America would lie to her about being pregnant. After all, what motive could they possibly have for that? However, she also knew that she truly wouldn't believe it until she saw the proof for herself. But another part of her, didn't want to have it confirmed, because then she could live in the blissful land of denial, and she could pretend it was all just a big misunderstanding and none of this was happening to her.

Taking another deep breath, she straightened her shoulders and marched into the drug store. No one would ever accuse Darcy Lewis of being a coward, not even herself. Wandering up and down the aisles until she found the appropriate section, she picked up the first pregnancy test that looked idiot-proof and headed to the check out.

Halfway to the front of the store, Darcy paused just long enough to grab a pair of obviously knock-off Iron Man novelty slippers that were on clearance. Her stockings were already ruined, silk being no match for the New York City sidewalks, but it didn't really matter. Darcy couldn't see herself needing to make use of them again in the future. But she figured she had enough problems at the moment without catching something from walking around barefoot on the dirty city streets.

She was concerned her attire might raise some questions, but fortunately this was New York City and a shoeless girl in 1940s period clothing was hardly the strangest thing the drug store clerk had ever seen. No, the real questionable moment was when it came time to pay and she realized that she hadn't thought to grab her purse – not that she had any idea where it currently was, anyways – before fleeing Stark Tower. She had a moment of panic before she found a ten dollar bill, a couple of crumpled ones, three quarters, a matchbook from the Savoy Hotel London, and a carved ivory handled pocket knife with the initials JBB engraved on a silver plate, in a pockets of her jacket. Slipping the knife and matches back into her pocket, she gave a silent thanks that 1940's Darcy was just as bad about putting change back in her wallet as the 2012 version was.

The moment of truth however, was when Darcy handed over the crisp, but clearly out dated bills to the cashier. He looked down at the ten and then at Darcy, then at the bill again before turning it over several times, clearly unsure what to do about it.

"Dude, I promise it's real, it's just old. The outfit I'm wearing belonged to my Great Aunt and it hasn't been worn since the last time she wore it in the 40s. I found that in the pocket." She wasn't lying exactly. "If it makes you feel better you can keep the change. Look at what I'm buying. I wouldn't be _here_ using _that_ money if I didn't have to be."

The clerk looked down at the pregnancy test on the counter and then once more at Darcy before wordlessly finishing the transaction and quickly handing over the receipt.

"Thanks man, do you have a bathroom?"

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

An uncomfortable pall settled over those still standing in the common room. And since Earth's Mightiest Heroes could defeat anything but an awkward silence, it didn't take long for the room to start to empty out once Darcy had disappeared into the elevator.

Tony left first, telling the room, but mainly Steve, that he and JARVIS would keep an eye on Darcy and make sure that she didn't get into any more trouble. Clint and Natasha silently slipped from the room next. Bruce paused to place a consoling hand on Steve's shoulder before he left, Erik following behind him. Thor offered what Steve was sure were supposed to be comforting words, but all he could hear was the blood rushing through his ears, drowning out everything else.

Jane followed Thor from the room, but returned just a few minutes later. In the time she'd been gone, Steve made his way over to the breakfast bar, sitting where the two of them had spent so many hours sharing stories about Darcy, both of them eagerly awaiting the day they brought her home.

"Are you okay?" Jane asked, as she moved around the kitchen, making them a couple of coffees.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he said reflexively. "Actually, no. I'm not," he corrected honestly. "I'm pretty damn far from okay." He chuckled, humorlessly. "I don't even know when the last time was that I was 'okay'."

"With everything you've been through, I don't think anyone would expect you to be," Jane said.

Steve glanced up from where he was staring at the counter in front of him, just long enough to give her a pointed look. He was _Captain America_. Everyone expected him to be fine, _always_.

"Okay, _I_ don't expect you to be okay, with everything that's happened," she amended.

"Thanks, Dr. Foster," Steve said sincerely.

"I told you, it's Jane," she corrected gently, setting a mug down in front of him, feeling that they were certainly on a first name basis by this point.

"Thanks, Jane," he repeated, this time for the coffee as much as the fact that she was one of the few people that remembered that he was human, too.

"Is that… is that what I think it is?" Jane asked with wide eyes, when she saw why Steve hadn't picked up his mug yet. In one hand, the flash of gold told her that he was holding onto the compass which was his constant touchstone. But in the other…

Steve held up the small velvet box so that Jane could see it clearly. "If you think it's proof that I'm a damned fool, then yes, it's what you think it is."

"Can I see it?" she asked cautiously.

Steve didn't respond verbally, but he put the box down on the counter between them, so she took that as answer enough. Jane picked up the box and carefully opened the hinged lid, a small gasp escaping her lips as she took in the delicate diamond engagement ring.

"It's beautiful, Steve," she said softly, "When did you buy this?"

"The day after we realized that _my_ Darcy and _your_ Darcy were the same person." Steve laughed, but there wasn't any humor in it. Once he had realized that he could have the woman he loved back, he had rushed right out to a jeweler that JARVIS had suggested for him.

"It's vintage isn't it?" she asked, carefully pulling it out of the box, taking in the Art Deco style ring.

"I looked at the new rings first, but none of them had stood out to me," Steve sighed. They were all to either too plain, too gaudy, or too common looking by turns. He needed something special and unique, but not ostentatious, for the movie star that stole his heart. "I'd almost given up, but then the jeweler showed me a tray of vintage estate rings. And I immediately knew that was the one."

Set in platinum, the European-cut center diamond was just over two carats and was flanked by marquise cut amethysts and round cut diamonds, set into the delicate filigree and milgrain band. He knew instantly it was the only ring for Darcy. He'd told the jeweler he'd take it, before he even asked the price. With seventy years of back pay, he could afford it, and his girl deserved the best.

"Purple is her favorite color," Jane mentioned, taking in the unique choice of the amethyst accents, before putting the ring back in the box and gently pushing back across the counter towards Steve.

"I know," Steve sighed, taking a deep breath before taking the box and once again looking at the ring he'd hinged all his hopes and dreams on. "And it matches the necklace I got her for Christmas. She never takes it off. At least she _didn't_ ," he sighed again and shut the lid, the spring loaded hinge closing with a snap.

Jane didn't know what to say, and the pair sat in silence for a few moments.

"I was so sure I was getting it right this time," Steve said, finally. "I had told her that I was going to propose again the next time I saw her. And that this time I would have a ring and do it properly. I just assumed that the next time I saw her, she would know who I was."

Jane grimaced, her heart aching for how Steve must be feeling. "Wait, propose _again_?" she asked, confused. "She didn't turn you down, did she?"

"She didn't say _no_ , but she didn't really say _yes_ either," he admitted. "She met me in London the night Bucky…" he trailed off, not able to finish, but Jane knew what he meant. "It wasn't until much later that I realized that she'd been in London to tell me about the baby, but after she found out about Buck, she decided to wait to tell me."

"Didn't want to add anymore weight to your shoulders," Jane figured.

"I suppose." Steve shrugged and put down the ring box so he could pick up his coffee, taking a long sip before continuing. "She was worried that I was making a rash decision based on grief, and told me that I didn't have all the information. She said that the next time we saw each other, we'd talk. And if I still wanted to marry her, she'd say yes. Like there was anything that could make me not want to marry her."

"That sounds like her," she said, with a sad sort of smile.

"We never got to have that talk. I went into the ice the next day," he continued. "Peggy told me I was going to be a father seconds before the plane crashed. I didn't put the pieces together until after I woke up."

"She told Agent Carter, before she told you?" she asked, before she could stop herself.

"Apparently," Steve said wryly. "I was planning on asking her about that, but…"

Jane winced. "Sorry."

Steve just shrugged, before his shoulders hunched in on themselves, and Jane could suddenly see the much smaller man he must have been before the super solider serum. "I'm such an idiot," he said, his voice full of self-loathing. "I was so sure everything was gonna turn out differently. That we'd finally be together again and with the war over, there'd be nothing that could tear us apart. That we'd be _happy_. Instead, I lost her all over again."

"You're talking about her like she died," Jane frowned.

"Your friend came back," he pointed out. "My girl didn't. And as happy as I am for you, the woman who loved me is gone."

Jane picked up the spoon she'd used to stir the sugar into her coffee and rapped Steve smack dab in the middle of his forehead with it.

"Hey!" he exclaimed, looking at the small scientist in surprise.

"Were you not standing right there while we all had to convince Darcy the she, and the 40s version of herself were the same person?" Jane asked pointedly. "You're entitled to be upset that today didn't work out the way you were hoping it would, but I'm gonna stop your pity party right there. Darcy is _not_ dead. She is alive and well and _**here**_. Well, not here here, since she's taking a walk, but she's here."

"But she doesn't know who I am," Steve lamented.

"So? You won her over once, you can do it again," Jane said surely. She knew her friend, and she'd gotten to know Steve fairly well over the last few weeks. She had no doubts that they would be perfect together if they could get past this. "You love her, don't you?"

"More than anything," Steve said truthfully.

"Did you or did you not just tell me that there was nothing that could make you not want to marry her?"

"I did," he admitted.

"You thought she was dead. She's not. This is your second chance, Steve!" Jane exclaimed. "So take it! You owe it to yourself, to Darcy, and to the baby she's carrying."

Steve inhaled deeply and then held it while he considered Jane's words. His entire life to this point was a series of unlikely second chances. Everytime he so sick as a child that the doctor told his Ma that there nothing left to do but pray, and instead he got better. Getting chosen by Dr. Erskine for project rebirth, when he'd been rejected by the Army time and again. Being shunted aside to be a dancing monkey, only to be in the right place at the right time to be able to rescue Bucky and the 107th, pushing him right into the center of the fight against Hydra. The fact that he didn't die when he purposely crashed a plane into the Arctic, instead awakening seventy years in the future.

Against all odds, the woman he loved was alive and he would not give up on her.

"You're right," Steve nodded, feeling a glimmer of hope for the first time since Darcy asked him who he was. "You're absolutely right."

"I know I am," Jane said with a smile. "So don't screw it up, or I'll have Thor knock some sense into you with something larger than a spoon."

"Yes ma'am."

xXxXxXxXxXxXxXx

Leaving the drug store in a daze, Darcy didn't know what to do next. For a moment she considered stopping at Starbucks, getting a caramel frappe with extra caramel drizzle and contemplating which of her life choices was the catalyst for how this had ended up being her life. Maybe if she could pinpoint the exact moment, she could talk to Thor about going back in time again and stop this from ever happening. But then she remembered that she only had three dollars and change in outdated money and she probably wasn't supposed to be drinking caffeine anyways.

At a loss for anything else to do, she ended up slowly shuffling, in her cheaply-made fuzzy slippers, back up the street towards Stark Tower, little white stick in hand. At least, that was her intention, but when faced with the gleaming double doors, she just couldn't force herself to go inside. Instead she kept moving, eventually walking around the block and looping down around Grand Central and back up Park again and again. Each time pausing in front of Stark Tower before moving on again.

It wasn't until the setting sun and her rapidly falling apart footwear forced the issue, that she managed to talk herself into entering the building. She even managed to get on the elevator, before realizing that she still wasn't ready to face anyone yet. In a panic she slammed the button for the next level, breathing a sigh of relief when the elevator let her off on the 17th floor.

Realizing that she couldn't just wander around what appeared to be an office space, even if it was after hours, Darcy spotted the sign for the emergency stairs. Figuring that was the perfect hideout, since no would be taking the stairs this high up in a building this tall, she slipped through the door and went up half a flight of stairs before taking a seat, wrapping her arms around her legs and resting her head against her knees.

She wasn't sure how long she'd been sitting there before she sensed someone sitting down beside her.

"Should I even ask how you knew where I was?" she asked, not bothering to lift her head.

"It's my building. I can know where anyone is at any time," Tony replied.

"Because that's not creepy at all," she said, looking up so she could give him the side eye.

"So I guess this would be a bad time to tell you that I had JARVIS hack into the city's big brother cameras to follow you from the minute you stepped out of the building," Tony countered shamelessly.

"Little bit, yeah."

"It was the only way we could keep Cap from charging after you. He was worried that you weren't wearing shoes when you left," he shrugged. "Which in my opinion, only made your seven trips around the block more impressive."

They both looked down at her feet. The cheaply made fuzzy slippers were already destined for the trash, filthy and falling apart after shuffling around outside in them all afternoon.

"I don't think those are licensed," Tony said casually, tilting his head as he took in the knock-off version of his likeness.

"No, I don't think so either," Darcy agreed, wiggling her toes.

"But I appreciate your superior taste in super heros."

"They were two dollars and ninety-eight cents on clearance," she explained dryly. "Vintage me didn't carry my debit card."

"Oh."

"Yeeeeeah," she drawled. "I just figured barefoot wasn't the best choice."

"You are absolutely correct about that," Tony agreed with a shudder.

"Although I guess I should be grateful that I was gone long enough that the cleanup from Loki's hissy fit is moving along nicely," Darcy mused with a shrug. "The sidewalk is actually pretty clear. How long was I gone, anyways?" she asked when she realized that she had no idea.

"Here, about a month," he told her. "But from what we can tell, from what Rogers has told us, you were probably in the past for closer to a year."

"A year?!" Darcy exclaimed, horrified at the prospect that in addition to everything else, there was a whole year of her life missing from her memory.

"That's if you started your stay in the past at the same time that you met him for the first time," Tony explained further. "But that's an educated guess. Time travel and magic…. not an exact science."

"Right," she said hollowly.

"But Thor thinks that if Rogers was the last thing you saw or thought of before you fell through the portal, that you were magically linked to him and that's why you ended up where you did. Or ya know," he waved a dismissive hand, "something."

Darcy let her head fall back to her knees as she processed this new information. She didn't know what do with the idea that she was or at least had been magically linked to Captain America.

"Does he know where I am right now?" she asked, figuring Tony would know who she was talking about.

"No," he assured her. "I told him I would keep an eye on you and tell him if you ran into trouble."

"Thanks," she sighed. "I don't think I can face him yet."

"Yeah, about that… what was the verdict?" Tony asked curiously, since they both knew he was watching her go into the drug store.

Unwrapping her arms from where they were tucked behind her knees, she extended the little white stick that was still clenched in her hand.

"I don't like to be handed things," he informed her. "That goes double for things that have been peed on."

"I didn't pee on the handle," Darcy shot back, with a roll of her eyes. "But to answer your question, I am, in fact, baking a seventy-year-old bun in this oven."

"At least you know it'll be well done."

"So," she said lightly, trying to find the humor in the situation, "I'm thinking if it's a boy, I'll name him Marty, and if it's a girl, I'll name her Jennifer."

"Classy," Tony nodded. "You could also go with Bill or Ted for boys. Or both if they're twins."

"Oh, those are good ones," Darcy grinned. "But don't you dare wish twins on me."

"So I take it that naming your time-traveling fetus means that you're going to skip Planned Parenthood tomorrow?" Tony asked, calling her out on her earlier statement.

That made her smile drop. "I shouldn't have said that." Darcy sighed deeply. "That's not something you just blurt out without a lot of forethought."

When Tony didn't reply right away, Darcy looked over at him, grateful to see a complete lack of judgment.

"If there was ever a situation that could excuse a rash statement or two, I think this qualifies," Tony said finally. "And whatever you decide to do, I've got your back."

Darcy couldn't even process the fact that she'd just gotten Iron Man's support in her woman's right to choose – which she did in actually appreciate a great deal – when she was still trying to come to terms with the fact that she was pregnant in the first place. Speaking of which…

"I can't believe I'm going to have a baby!" she exclaimed, eyes wide, as it hit her all over again. "I can't keep a houseplant alive! I can't be responsible for a human being!"

"The way Foster tells it, you've done a pretty good job keeping her alive the past couple years."

"Jane's an adult! I can just shove a Pop Tart in her hand while she's distracted, when she's being too stubborn to actually stop what she's doing to eat," Darcy threw up her hands. "I don't think babies are supposed to eat Pop Tarts!"

"No, not at least until they have teeth," Tony agreed.

"Oh god. It's gonna have teeth!"

"Well, not right away," he offered, as though that made it any better.

"I'm _growing_ an entire _person_. Inside me, right now," she said, with wide eyes.

"You make it sound really creepy when you put it like that," Tony said, looking a little queasy.

Darcy leaned back against the stair behind her, and rested her hands on her stomach. There was a definite swell, there was no denying that, but she'd had a bigger belly the time she'd challenged Thor to a pizza-eating contest. She'd lost, of course, but she'd put in a good showing.

"I don't even know how far along I am," she realized. "I'm gonna have to go to a doctor, and being Jane's assistant does not come with a PPO," she sighed, the practicalities of her new situation coming to mind for the first time since the stick had turned blue. "Thank god ACA passed, I guess."

"You're having Captain America's baby," Tony pointed out. "I'm sure that qualifies you to be on SHIELD's health plan."

Darcy wrinkled her nose at that idea. She'd about reached her lifetime limit on all things SHIELD at this point. She wasn't really sure if she wanted to get any further entrenched with the secret government agency. "Maybe I'll just take my chances with socialized medicine. It's worked out for Canada pretty well so far. Despite who the father is, the baby doesn't know it's American yet."

"Hate to break it to you kiddo, but I'm pretty sure you won't have a choice. Like I said, you're smuggling Captain America's progeny in there," he said, nodding at her stomach. "He's a super solider, with super sperm, which could potentially make super spawn. I can't see them letting you get anywhere near a doctor that doesn't have clearance. For your safety as much as the kid's."

"So you mean to tell me that not only am I pregnant by some guy I've never met, but I could potentially be carrying a super fetus that might have the strength to bust through my belly button like in Alien?" Darcy said, with a remarkable level of calm. "Today keeps getting better and better."

"It's possible, but that particular scenario seems unlikely," he replied in the same even tone, concerned that she might be seconds away from a total breakdown.

"Stark, I want you to promise me something," she said, turning to face Tony straight on, the very picture of seriousness. "If it looks like that's the way things are going to go down, I want you to record that shit and upload it to YouTube. If I'm going down, I'm going to go down with more hits than five people playing one guitar and Rebecca Black's Friday combined."

"I like your style, Lewis," Tony said appraisingly.

Darcy just shrugged at was actually a high compliment coming from Tony Stark.

"Why are you here anyways?" she asked suddenly realizing she was sitting in a stairwell with Iron Man discussing her unplanned pregnancy. It was more than a little surreal.

"Because I own the building," he said simply.

"No, really. I mean why are you here talking to me? You don't even know me. You could have just sent Jane. Not that I don't appreciate it, but none of this is your problem." Darcy wasn't being rude, she just really wanted to know why Tony Stark, who was easily one of the most powerful men in the world, was making the time and effort to check up on her.

"Jane and Steve are sitting vigil together, and while we were able to keep him from scouring the city streets for you, I don't think we could have kept him out of the stairwell," Tony answered after several beats. "And I assumed that if you were ready to see him, you wouldn't have gotten out of the elevator."

"Thanks for that," she nodded, confirming his assumptions.

"Also, I'm probably the only other person up there, that knows what if feels like to be told that you're having a baby with someone you don't even remember sleeping with," he admitted with a shrug.

"You have kids?" Darcy questioned, unable to hide her surprise.

"What? No!"

"But you just said- "

"Paternity tests have always proved otherwise," Tony explained quickly. "I've always been very careful, but accidents happen. And even if I was always pretty sure that they were just looking for a payout, there was always a chance that they weren't, and I was having a kid with a stranger. It's not a good feeling, no matter how many times it's happened." 

"How many times has that happened?" she asked, wide-eyed.

"Four," he answered honestly. "But I'm pretty sure that I never actually slept with one of them, so that one I wasn't overly worried about. She was a nut job of epic proportions."

"Yikes," Darcy understated.

"Yep," Tony agreed. "But I figure that it's got to be about a thousand times worse for you, since you're the one actually carrying the mystery baby."

"It's not a great feeling, no," she agreed, her hands going back to her still mostly-flat stomach, still having a hard time coming to grips that there was actually a baby in there. "But even with all of that, you're still going above and beyond the call of coolness about all of this, though. And no offense, it doesn't really mesh with anything I've heard about you since, well, ever."

Tony shrugged. Even he wasn't completely sure of the motives behind his actions. He didn't know her, but after hearing so much about her from both Steve and Jane over the past couple weeks, he sort of felt like he did. And he had accepted the group currently upstairs into the select club of what he considered 'his people', and if Darcy was important to his people, than that made her important to him. "I meant it though, when I said I like your style. Besides, anyone who tased the god of thunder is okay in my book."

"You heard that story, huh?" Darcy smirked proudly.

"And what you did to save Foster," he continued, referring to the events that had led Darcy to fall through the portal in the first place, "was brave. _Stupid_ , but very brave. Which I can respect. Clearly, life is less boring when you're around and I hate to be bored, so you're welcome to stay here while you figure out what's going on with Mr. Patriotic Pants."

"Thanks, Stark," she said, genuinely. "You're being incredibly sweet about all of this."

Tony looked horrified. "If you ever tell anyone that or about anything we've talked about, I'll rescind that offer, and your pregnant butt will be sitting on the steps of Grand Central with a one-way ticket out of the city before you can blink."

"Noted," Darcy replied, not believing his threat for a minute.

"And, also in the category of things that shall never be spoken of again… and frankly I can't even believe I'm about to say this since just _thinking_ about it makes me nauseous," Tony continued, before he could talk himself out of it. "You should go easy on Steve. Maybe even consider giving him a chance. He's almost unbelievably decent. None of us expected you not to remember your little trip through time and he's pretty torn up about all of this. And it's obvious that he's stupid in love with you. Seriously, you should have seen him these past couple weeks when he realized you were, well... you. I thought that rainbows were going to shoot out of his ass when we finally figured out how to get you back."

"But he's not in love with _me_ ," Darcy countered. "He's in love with _bizarro_ Darcy. It's like he's in love with my identical twin who looks and sounds like me, but is definitely not me. Seriously, like 94% of my personality would have been completely unacceptable in the forties and that is the version of Darcy that Steve is in love with."

"Lewis, I've known you for less than a day and I sincerely doubt that even being born in the first half of the twentieth century could have stifled your personality all that much," Tony replied. "And you've had enough life changing news today that you really shouldn't be making any life changing decisions tonight anyways. So I vote that we get off these stairs, because my ass is falling asleep, and go back upstairs and maybe do something mindless like watch a movie. What do you say?"

"Well, I suppose I can't hide in the stairwell forever," Darcy sighed in way of agreement.

"Excellent," Tony said standing and leading the way back to the elevator. "I think Pepper said something about picking up _The Vow_ for tonight."

"That's fucked up."

"Well if that's a no, how about _While You Were Sleeping_?"

"Yeah, okay."

"Really?"

"No, not really!"

" _50 First Dates_?"

"You're a dick."

"I've heard that before."

* * *

A/N And there we have it! I sincerely hope you enjoyed it! And I promise next chapter I'll finally get Steve and Darcy in the same room and talking to each other ;) So please let me know what you thought, your comments feed the muse :D


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